This invention relates to apparatus and method for filling a succession of cartons with a product for shipment. More specifically, this invention relates to an improved system for filling cartons with an irregular-shaped product such as potato strips wherein the quantity of product placed into each carton is maximized.
Automated carton filling systems in general are well known in the art. For example, in the foods industry, it is well known to process a particular food item in bulk and then to convey the processed item to an appropriate packaging line for automated package filling. Of course, it is highly desirable to maximize the quantity of product contained in each individual package, or alternately stated, it is desirable to minimize the size per unit weight of each package so as to make maximum use of shipping and warehousing volumes. However, with some items such as French fried potato strips, green beans, carrot strips, and the like, the product typically has been packaged in a random jackstrawed orientation which does not maximize the bulk density of the product in the package and thereby results in substantial settling of the product during shipment and/or storage. When this settling occurs, some breakage of the product is common resulting in a less desirable product for purchase by the consumer.
These packaging problems are particularly pronounced with frozen parfried potato strips since such strips are relatively fragile, and have a relatively long length compared with their cross sectional dimension. In the prior art, it is well known to package these potato strips by weighing individual quantities of the strips in a hopper and then dumping en masse each weighed quantity into a shipping container such as a bag or carton. However, it has not been feasible to orient the strips in an effort to minimize jackstrawing and to maximize the bulk density of the product in the shipping container. Instead, the container has sometimes been vibrated after filling to settle the product partially for more uniform filling of the container. However, this vibratory settling action does not eliminate the undesired breakage of the product which necessarily results therefrom.
Typical prior art weighing and dumping systems are relatively slow in that a separate weighing and dumping step is required for each individual container to be filled. Accordingly, some attempts have been made to provide continuous fill conveyor systems wherein the product is conveyed along a line for intersection with a conveyed succession of shipping containers to be filled. By appropriate container and product flow control, it is possible to fill the containers with roughly uniform weight measures of the product. However, once again, no attempt has been made to orient the product to maximize the bulk density of the product in the container or to minimize product settling during storage and/or shipment.
The present invention overcomes the problems and disadvantages of the prior art by providing an improved carton filling system for filling shipping cartons with an elongated product such as French fried potato strips to maximize the bulk density of the product in the carton. More specifically, the invention includes means for orienting the product prior to and during filling of the cartons.